What the hell had she been thinking when she decided to take up being a daimyo AND an actress?

Honestly, it must have been the battle high or something because Kazahana Koyuki, known to most as Fujikaze Yukie, couldn't fathom why she thought it would be a good idea to mix the world of film with the world of politics. Her beloved dark hair would be a startling white before the year was over if her adoring public had any say in it. She had promised to be more open, but perhaps her antisocial tendencies had been the right course of action.

"Yukie-sama, a journalist is waiting for you in the antechamber. He goes by the name of Yamazaki Jounouchi. Are you ready?"

Yukie rolled her eyes but nodded her acceptance. If she didn't do it now, they would only get rabid later. She stood from her dinner table and followed her assistant to the antechamber. A man in a traditional outfit in the colors of red and purple sat at her table, staring at the tea he had been given with fascination. Her assistant quickly slid the door closed when she entered.

"Good evening, Yukie-sama. Sorry to disturb you this evening."

"It's quite alright," Yukie lied with a polite smile on her face. She was tired and in desperate need of a hot bath, but no. Here she was.

"I just have a few questions," Jounouchi said, an easy smile forming on his lips. He was easy-going and pleasant looking so she automatically put up her guard. Such men were usually shark-like in how easily they scented blood.

"Ask away."

"Rumor has it that you're only in power because shinobi put you there. Is that true? Did shinobi topple the old regime for you?"

Yukie raised an elegantly arched eyebrow and smiled placidly. "I already answered that question and others like it after my coronation, Yamazaki-san. Please don't tell me you're here to ask me all those things again. My answers are already public knowledge."

"Oh, my apologies," Jounouchi quickly said. "It's such a fresh topic, I thought it would be a great icebreaker. I'm sorry if it's a tiring topic for you to discuss."

"I'm sure I've told the tale upwards of hundred times by now," Yukie said, purposefully inflecting her tone with weariness. She raised a hand to her brow and brushed back the stray hair that had fallen from her updo. "Any worthwhile newspaper would be able to tell you what you want to know in regards to that."

Jounouchi's easy grin dimmed a bit as he gazed at her. "Oh, of course. I'm sure they would."

"Is that all you wanted to know?"

"Not at all, Yukie-sama," the journalist slowly said, he cast his gaze off to the side as he thought about how to phrase his next question. Yukie-hime was proving to be tight-lipped so far.

"Yamazaki-san?"

"There are rumors that you aren't yourself," Jounouchi stated into the awkward silence that had formed. He looked back at her with abject politeness, the way one would observe a bacteria culture under a magnifying lens and he was proud to see that he had startled her. "People who have worked with you on previous movies say that you're personality has gone through an upheaval. What do you have to say to that?"

"I am quite sure I am myself," Yukie said, brows drawn together in slight annoyance. She couldn't tell what angle he was coming from and wondered which of her fellow actors or actresses had spoken to him.

"Have you been punched recently?"

Yukie gaped. "Have I been what?"

"Punched?" Jounouchi gently said. He made no moves towards his notepad and Yukie felt uneasiness settle in her stomach. Was this some sort of a threat?

"No. What kind of a question is that? What exactly is this article supposed to be on?"

"It's been confirmed that a known shinobi with abilities in what they call 'verbal puppetry' was spotted in this country when your uncle was removed from office," Jounouchi told her in the calmest voice he could muster. Inside, he was grinning. He had finally caught her off balance. He could practically see her scrambling for answers.

"Shinobi are spotted everywhere because of their missions," Yukie replied with a stiff smile.

"Yes, but this one was seen in your company," Jounouchi happily informed her. "Eye witness reports recall seeing you being escorted by him!"

Yukie faltered. Was this journalist speaking of Team 7? Did Hatake Kakashi have skills in verbal puppetry? She wouldn't know anything about that because the term itself sounded so strange, but could it be possible? Denying was her only option, but eye witness reports…

"Is it possible that this shinobi could have used his techniques on you and you wouldn't know?"

"What?"

"People around you claim that you've been a different person since you met him."

Yukie made a note to change the people around her.

"If I truly had been changed by a personality switching, would I know of it?" the female daimyo said with annoyance coloring her voice. "If such a thing were possible, which I highly doubt it to be, I wouldn't know about it. Please, do you have actual questions for me that aren't wild and outrageous?

"So you don't deny him being in your company?" Jounouchi quickly asked. "The Pied piper helped you overthrow your uncle?"

Yukie inwardly frowned. Wasn't Kakashi known as the Copycat? Or something along that line? Where did Pied Piper come from?

"I did not say any of that," Yukie said with an unimpressed frown. "The details behind my coronation can be found -"

"Yes, yes, in any newspaper. You've told me." Jounouchi somewhat rudely interrupted. He was impatient but he had struck a goldmine of a story. "Just one more question, then: is his clothing truly as brightly colored as they say? Don't you think that's arrogant of a shinobi to do?"

At that, Yukie's brows shot up in clear surprise. Bright clothing? Kakashi had worn dark colors as far as she could tell. His silver hair, which could arguably be called bright since it wasn't dark, had even been perfect for the snowy landscape of her country. And, he hadn't even been the one to finally face her uncle. It had been…

Could this man actually be talking about Naruto?

"YES! Who else could be that amazing and awesome? Nobody!"

"I'm glad you're still up for trouble-making, Naruto-kun," Kakashi said with an eye-smile as he led his student into Ichiraku Ramen. It was a gently pleasant day where the sky was a clear blue with fluffy white clouds rolling by with the scent of freshly cut grass and sakura blossoms trailing it. People were still rebuilding their homes and shops, but there was an air of determined happiness and pride in all the people that were in Konoha's streets.

In his vast experience, such a scene was the precursor for village-wide destruction.

That's why he was hurriedly taking Naruto out for food. It would do Kakashi's guilt good to sit beside his sensei's son as he ate his favorite meal before delving into a rigorous training schedule. Minato used to always treat their team to a feast before he appeared at 3:47 am the next day to put them through what felt like actual hell on earth. The Forest of Death is nothing compared to Training Ground 8.7, erroneously called the Forest of Peace by the villagers. It was called so because it was so quiet and still there - it was supposedly a ground covered by a sensory-deprivation genjutsu that had survived from the time of the Shodaime. A place with no sound and no smells paired with Minato's speed and total darkness… no, those training days were scary.

The fact that it escaped every major confrontation Konoha has had since its creation with nary a toppled tree was a credence to the fact that it was a gateway to the Shinigami's stomach. (The bodies of various enemy shinobi that still unknowingly try to use that forest for cover are still found every once in a while.)

So, Kakashi would do what he could to ease the passage of proverbial shit through the fan. Naruto was in for a long road ahead, but by now Kakashi had no doubts that Naruto would live up to being more than a legend.

He ruffled his blond student's hair one more time with fondness. Permit him to be sappy and over sentimental, but Kakashi could just tell that Naruto was going to be nothing short of revolutionary.

"By the way, one of the bandits said something weird before he ran off with his buddies," Naruto said after he had placed his order for ramen. He looked up at his sensei with confusion and offense clear in his eyes.

"What did they say?" Kakashi asked with a slow page turn of his book.

"He said something about me piping or something," Naruto shrugged. Then his eyes lit up when he remembered the finer details of the mission he had just taken. His annoyance resurfaced at the remembered words. "And he was warning everyone to shut me up! This is like the second time! How is the world going to know who I am if I don't get to tell them?"

"Aa, don't be so upset," Kakashi lightly said. "You're outfit is enough of a title. No one else wears bright orange clothes like you do."

"I'm not a sneaky fighter! I'm a shinobi!"

Kakashi considered telling Naruto that a shinobi was supposed to be a 'sneaky fighter' but the revelation could possibly change his enthusiastic student's mindset and seeing a Naruto in dark green - or worse, gray and brown! - would possibly be the sign of the apocalypse. So, he smiled blandly and returned to his reading.

Naruto turned away from his teacher when his food arrived in front of him and hastily stuck his chopsticks into his bowl before a startling thought popped up in his mind.

"Hey, since they ran away once they saw me, does that mean that they recognized me? Have they seen some of my fights before?"

Kakashi was barely listening. "Perhaps."

"That would be so cool if there was an order to flee-on-sight from me! Maybe there is? That'd be epic!"

"Then who would you get to fight?"

Naruto slurped up a mouthful of noodles before replying, "Only the gutsy shinobi would!"

At that, Kakashi froze in his reading of Icha Icha: Uprising, his gaze just so happening to land on the word 'utterly' which had been in the middle of being used to help describe a large anatomical part of the leading female.

"Kakashi-sensei? You okay?"

There was no such thing as coincidence, Kakashi idly mused.

"Hey, I know you don't like reading, Naruto-kun, but there's a book that I think you'll like…"

A/N: Hey! I'm back at it again with the Minato name dropping.

So, another chapter in honor of my birthday coming up. I might even rustle up some more words and drop a chapter on the day of my actual birthday (MARCH 30 BETCH!). Maybe. Your following, favorite and review alerts make me feel like a celebrity. I love you all!

This chapter is in honor of Mystikoorime who finished up my faviorite HieixBotan story of ALL TIME yesterday. Check it out! She'll make a believer our of you!

RIGHT. So anyway, here you get to peek into how the legend is growing outside of Konoha. I'm not sure when the whole Yukie-debacle really happens, but that's why I had it so vague so I don't piss off the timeline-police. You guys can be so particular sometimes, geez.

This is vaguely canon, I suppose. I don't think this story can really handle developing a true plot due to the tone I've already set, but suggestions are still welcome. I'm so curious to see how others think. Ideas of plot-explosions anyone?

Who can guess whose next?